Without warning, my stomach lurches. I immediately know what the tube next to my seat is for, and keel over it. Vomit spews from my throat, sticking to my teeth and lips. I gag. Tears sting my eyes and I wipe them dry with the cuffs of my uniform. Then I hold still until I’m sure my body is done punishing me. Glacia is also throwing up, but none of the other officers are.

Officer Remmit squats and offers me two packets of liquid. “Swish this one, spit it out, and drink this.”

I gurgle the medicine and spit it down the tube. My mouth tingles. I drink the second pouch and my stomach settles.

“Follow Larson,” Victoria says after Glacia drinks her medicine. “He’ll show you around. And guys,” she looks at Officer Remmit rather than us, “Don’t be reckless.”

“I’ll keep them in line, Vicky,” Officer Remmit says, wagging his finger at us. “Any and all troublemakers will be ejected into space.”

Victoria watches us leave, shaking her head slowly. We walk down the thin hall and step through the exit hatch. The dock echoes with the moans of dying engines and the shouts of Officials organizing Recruits for tours. Other officers run to each transport, data orbs in hand, and climb inside once the crafts are empty.

Officer Remmit leads us through a gate that seals out the noise of the dock. This new corridor is short. A large room—which I assume controls operations in the dock—sits to the right, a long pane of glass separating it from the corridor. Several officers tap on holograms and toss data orbs to each other.

We reach a set of five elevators. Floor 3: Docking Levels glows on the opposite wall. We ride an elevator up seven floors, and when we step out again, the display reads: Floor 10: Vancouver Sector Living Quarters.

Officer Remmit turns left and stops in front of a wide doorway that opens into a private corridor. Two doors are set into each wall.

“Miss Mistin and Miss Haverns will stay here,” he says. “You might have hall mates. Please get along with them. We have many philosophies here on the Ember, and one of them is something about not killing each other. Other than that, my eyes are shut.”

Officer Remmit types a code on a touchpad and the first door unlocks. The room is smaller than the dorms in the Crown but set up in the same fashion.

He pats a digital panel next to the door. “This is the temperature and humidity control. Feel free to change the settings, but don’t turn this place into a sauna. It’s bad for the skin.” He looks at Ellin. “This is your room. Miss Haverns is next door. Mr. Lance and Ambassador Rafting, your rooms are upstairs, in Drexel Quarters.”

Officer Remmit waves us out of the room and locks it again.